MICHAEL JORDAN’S claim he suffered food poisoning ahead of Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals have been slammed by the then-assistant manager of the Pizza Hut in question.
With the best-of-seven series tied at 2-2, Jordan revealed he was starving at 2am the night before the match on Netflix documentary The Last Dance.
Jordan recalled how he ordered a pizza – with members of his team having a “bad feeling” about it – before “throwing up left and right” all night.
In what became known as the “Flu Game”, MJ played while violently ill – dominating on the court, before slumping in his chair during breaks.
But after revealing it was in fact suspected food poisoning – and not flu – ailing him that night, on The Last Dance, a Pizza Hut employee has now quashed the claim.
Craig Fite, a Chicago Bulls fan living in Salt Lake City at the time, was assistant manager of the branch in question in 1997.
He revealed he made and even hand-delivered the pizza himself – as he was wary of what local Jazz fans would do to it ahead of such a crucial game.
Did you get it [food poisoning] diagnosed? Did you go to the doctor? All this is innuendo on their part.
Then-Pizza Hut assistant manager, Craig Fite
Fite told The Big Show on 1280 The Zone: “I said: ‘Well, I’m delivering it’.
“I remember saying this: ‘I will make the pizza, because I don’t want any of you doing anything to it.’
“And then I told the driver: ‘You’re going to take me there.’
“As soon as the [elevator] door opened, it was like I got punched in the face with cigar smoke.
“Did you get it [food poisoning] diagnosed? Did you go to the doctor? All this is innuendo on their part.
“One thing I remind everybody is, he was smoking so many cigars. They had windows open. He didn’t have a shirt on or he was in a tank top.
“They could have brought him food from somewhere else if it really was food poisoning.
“But that pizza was made well. I followed all the rules.”
‘COMPLETE NONSENSE’
Journalist Sam Smith – who was criticised by Jordan on The Last Dance for his tell-all book, The Jordan Rules – recently refuted the food poisoning claims, too.
Smith said: “The pizza thing – the poison – that was complete nonsense.
“There were a couple of other things like that I won’t go into.”
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Former Bulls star Horace Grant – who featured heavily in the show – laid into Jordan, calling him a “liar” and a “snitch” for his words on The Last Dance.
And another ex-team-mate, Scottie Pippen, was left “beyond livid” for Jordan’s attitude towards him during the show.
Meanwhile, the show was forced to remove a “disrespectful” dig at Barack Obama following a mass backlash.